The Decision
by animegus farmus
Summary: The choice is never simple when the rules are always changing...
1. The Choice

_Disclaimer: I Labyrinth do own not._

_Author's Note: So I seem to have acquired a Labyrinth Muse playlist on my ipod, I am mildly alarmed by this. That being said, I hereby dedicate this story to lemonbalm, who has been so kind as to take over from the works of Quality Control – and is thereby the only reason y'all are getting more Labyrinth fics from me (well, not quite only reason, and I do thank the rest of you who offered – there really is no escape for me is there?). Props to her on the story title and summary, since my muse only saw fit to hand me the chapter names (and summaries for drabbles are a pain). Sigh._

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><p><em>...<br>_

_It's just a crystal, nothing more…_

It is a choice that has always been before her, waiting, watching, biding its time. Naïve to think that something as immutably everlasting as an immortal, having decided he was in love, should change his mind just because a few words had been spoken, as powerful as those words might have been. He seems so fickle sometimes, so inscrutable and aloof, but there is a vast difference in his treatment of momentary pleasures, and of that which he truly wants. The one is but a breeze to a mountainside, a fleeting amusement lightly felt and easily dismissed; for the other, he is insatiable as the desert for the rain, and just as relentless.

And so the crystal is always in hand, ever offering dreams to the one who is no ordinary girl, if only because he has decided otherwise. He is not concerned by the passage of time or the gradual alteration of those wishes; his realm is a landscape of constant transformation and nothing as it seems. The very nature of his being is the fluidity of the changing, unchanging of forever, and he can wait until the world falls down.

Indeed, it is her personal growth that is his opportunity, for every evolution of a dream is an amendment to the offer, rewriting the bargain anew. Her human nature is his ally, making each refusal but a negotiation, waiting only for the terms to be right, and so the choice is always before her, waiting to be made.


	2. The Bargain

_Disclaimer: O.W.N.E.R.S.H.I.P. (Organized Wankers Not Even Remotely Sharing Happiness Inducing Properties) aka them; N.O.T. O.W.N.E.R.S.H.I.P. (Numerous Others Theoretically Observing Nothing Resembling Somewhat Happiness Inducing Plagiarism) aka us minus the disclaimers. I disclaim. Eheheheheh._

_Author's Note: Hello._

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><p><em>...<br>_

_Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave…_

The words are always the same, but then, it never was about the words but the meaning. Words themselves are meaningless, without substance or consequence; it is the will of the speaker that gives them power, and the heart of the listener that determines their significance. Ever the same phrase, ever a different connotation, his intent unwavering even as he strives to adapt his meaning to match her ever changing interpretation.

What is in a name, a human poet once asked, for the name is nothing in face of the named. Just a label attached to represent so much more – the more being unchanged in the process. So he doesn't bother trying to change the words, pointless to alter the appearance of the bargain when it is the _spirit_ of the thing that matters – the _spirit_ that must find the bridge to her dreams…

…and his.


	3. The Price

_Disclaimer: Muse would like to protest the lack of ownership, brain-brain would like to point out that it doesn't seem matter anyhow, and my not-so-inner child says 'gimme'. You guys haven't met my gremlin yet, but then, it is a shy creature, far too busy keeping keep subconscious track of my storylines to socialize; I don't think anyone's met it._

_Author's Note: I need to stop with the vague stories; you guys keep expecting more than I am planning on giving you. That and I feel it is at least partially responsible for my waking up to muse trying to, well, muse two multi chapter stories SIMULTANEOUSLY. Ow. Don't get too excited, while the beginnings are promisingly entertaining, I have been handed no plot or storylines as of yet, so those will likely be in development for quite some time. And those of you that were around for the creation of the Gulchverse: Don't. Even. Say. It._

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><p><em>...<br>_

_I ask so little of you…_

There is a price that must be paid for this choice, she has always known this. In older, more ignorant and yet more knowledgeable times she might have been burned at the stake for even considering it. The hob's bargain…

…and yet he offers her her dreams.

Life is _about_ dreams: the ones that motivate you, the ones that get you through the hard times, the ones you fight to obtain, and the ones that you wish for others. The world was built on flights of fancy, dreams of the dreamer, dreamed so hard they made it reality. Dreams not so very different than her own, for she is so very human in her dreaming, though their object is very much not. But then, it wouldn't be the first time in history that wishes should seek to overcome the impossible, and while the distance may not have ever been so great, she is not the first to take this leap of faith.

He has promised her her dreams, and she will hold him to it, for every last one.

The words have been spoken, their meaning understood, the bargain accepted, and at long last she reaches for the crystal, holds it in her hand…

…and somewhere in this ordinary world an actress breaks the audience's hearts with her very real tears at the loss of her fictional daughter…

…a lawyer known for the fierceness of his arguments falters unexpectedly and walks slowly from the courtroom in search of the conversation he can never have…

…a woman's hand pauses over a peace offering she no longer needs as she walks a dog she can't remember getting…

…and in a crowded school playground a small boy wails disconsolately at finding himself suddenly alone in the world…

There was always a price for this choice, one that was never truly hers to pay.


End file.
